Strasbourg, 18 January 2013                                         CDLR-Bu(2013)13

                                                                        Item E.4 of the agenda

BUREAU OF THE

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

DEVELOP ACTIVITIES TO HELP TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES TO TRANSFRONTIER CO-OPERATION, INTER ALIA, BY SHARING THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM RELEVANT INITIATIVES

IN MEMBER STATES

Secretariat Memorandum

prepared by the

Directorate of Democratic Governance

Democratic Institutions and Governance Department

This document is public. It will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy.

Ce document est public. Il ne sera pas distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire.

Introduction

The origins of this activity go back to the 16^th session (Utrecht, November 2009) of the Council of Europe conference of ministers responsible for local and regional government. At Utrecht, the Ministers acknowledged that “even without the formal establishment of co-operation groupings or bodies, … neighbouring territorial communities or authorities should, through dialogue and exchanges of practices, take more and more into account, when designing and implementing their policies and actions, the situation in territories across the border and the impact these policies will have on them and their inhabitants. This is already being the case in a number of frontier areas and [they saw] it as a prefiguration of the “crossborder governance” that should take roots at our borders, without entailing any transfer of sovereignty or competence”. Accordingly, they expressed an interest for these developments and declared themselves “ready to have regard to the relevant experience of member States and their territorial communities or authorities, with a view to promoting a similar attitude at home”^[1].

In accordance with this declaration and having regard to the relevant decisions of the Committee of Ministers, work started in the CDLR with a view to identifying obstacles to cross-border cooperation as well as best practices and solutions to overcome them. This work resulted in a huge compilation of examples of difficulties and best practices, a synthesis of which was submitted to the Ministers on the occasion of the subsequent session of their Council of Europe conference.

In Kyiv (November 2011), the Ministers agreed:

“12     to step up efforts to remove or reduce, as far as possible, obstacles to transfrontier co-operation for those territories which have often been handicapped by their position at their country's borders;

13      to  envisage, according to need, a central or regional government "special task mediator/mediation office" for cross-border co-operation, tasked with making the action of the different ministries and players concerned more dynamic, or a border zone "contact person or body" whom territorial authorities and communities could contact when promoting and setting up cross-border co-operation;

14      to invite the Committee of Ministers to include in the Council of Europe programme on local and regional democracy and governance the work of sharing the results of the experience of certain member states which have designated a cross-border "special task mediator/mediation office”^[2].

In the framework of their consideration of the Kyiv Declaration, the Ministers’ Deputies at their 1156^th meeting (item 2.bis a) “instructed the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) to … develop activities to help to overcome obstacles to transfrontier co-operation, inter alia, by sharing the lessons learned from relevant initiatives in member States” and “invited the CDLR to carry out these activities within the limits of the budgetary resources allocated to it and within the existing structures, while ensuring co-ordination and promoting synergies with the other competent Council of Europe bodies”.

Subject area covered by the mandate

The mandate refers to “activities to help overcome obstacles to transfrontier cooperation, inter alia, by sharing the lessons learned from relevant initiatives in member states”.

The identification of these “relevant initiatives” has already started in the framework of the drawing up of a Manual on measures and good practice in overcoming obstacles to crossborder cooperation (see item E.4 of the agenda of this meeting of the Bureau). Also, the drawing up of norms suitable for inclusion in an annex to Protocol No 3 to the Madrid Outline Convention (see item C.1 of the agenda of this meeting of the Bureau) similarly benefits from the sharing of lessons from relevant initiatives in member states, insofar as the proposed norms will be based on the best practice regarding cross-border cooperation bodies.

Other initiatives have been reported on and mentioned in the preparatory work (document MCL-17(2011)10) of the Kyiv conference. They pertain to the establishment of specific cooperation bodies or units whose task is to facilitate cross-border cooperation through action aimed at focusing on specific difficulties and their removal.

These bodies or institutions according to the replies provided by member states and compiled prior to the Kyiv conference are the following:

-      In France, the “Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière” (MOT) set up in 1997 is a voluntary and inter-ministerial body with around sixty members representing local and regional authorities, states, associations, cross-border organisations, companies, federations, etc. Its objectives are based on three areas of action: operational assistance, networking, and assistance in defining overall strategies. It thus assists with project structuring and monitors cross-border activities.

-      In the Netherlands, the position of Grensmakelaar (border ombudsman) was established to solve cross-border problems. After an initial period of three years, the function has evolved into that of an “ambassador for neighbouring countries” (currently Mr Maarten Lak). Recent developments in the Netherlands show also that cross-border cooperation is not limited to neighbouring areas per se. As part of its activities in the field of EU Urban policies, the Dutch ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations formed an EGTC with 11 other Member States.

-      In Spain/Portugal, as regards co-operation between Galicia and North Portugal, at the central government level a reference person for cross-border matters is present in the Foreign Ministry of each side and a Joint Committee on Cross-Border Co-operation is chaired by those two ministries. At the devolved government level, there is a Committee for Co-ordination and Regional Development of the North on the Portuguese side and a reference person for cross-border matters on the Galician side. This arrangement is supported by a number of cross-border bodies: an EGTC, a Working Community and a Euroregion.

-      In Hungary, the CESCI (Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives), modeled on the French MOT, was set up in November 2009. This is an instrument designed to assist local and regional authorities in Hungary’s border areas. It enables them to network and provides an upward flow of information on border obstacles from local to central government.^[3]

-      The German Federal Land of Brandenburg and Poland agreed in early 2011 to appoint a “Commissioner for cooperation with Eastern European countries in the area of fire protection and disaster management”.  The task of the Commissioner is above all to develop a national concept for cross-border fire protection and disaster management as well as a danger prevention plan for the immediate border region between Brandenburg and Poland in cooperation with the neighbouring Polish Voivodships. Another task of the Commissioner is to expedite the development of cross-border alert plans for major catastrophes and disasters as well as joint training and exercises. In addition, the Commissioner will participate in the evaluation, coordination, planning and implementation of EU cross-border fire protection and disaster management projects with local authorities.

Since this information reflects the situation as per October 2011, its updating – through direct contacts with the CDLR’s delegations concerned – would be helpful.

For instance, according to additional information available to the Secretariat, in Belgium the same type of ambassador as in the Netherlands was introduced but after this person resigned no new ambassador has been appointed so far. In the region of Flanders, the Flemish Ministry for International affairs coordinates the cross border activities in Flanders. In Germany, each “Staatskanzlei” in the different Länder is the interlocutor for cross border cooperation with the task of coordinating the role of ministries concerned. Also MOT in France has undergone some major reforms of its structures and modus operandi.

However, the cases of specific or ad hoc representatives or teams for cross-border cooperation seem more widespread that one would think. It could therefore be interesting and even necessary, before developing any initiative, to learn more about the current state of play as regards these bodies or persons and their functions.

Action required

The Bureau is invited to have an exchange of views on the implementation of the new terms of reference given to the CDLR by the Committee of Ministers and instruct the Secretariat to

-      Contact the bodies or persons that perform the task of cross-border mediator or facilitator (as discussed above) with a view to gathering more detailed and updated information on their work and

-      Elicit from other CDLR members additional information on similar or recent experiences of cross-border mediation/facilitation, not covered by the 2011 questionnaire

with a view to drawing up specific proposals for consideration by the CDLR at its April session, which the Bureau could review and approve in writing if it so wished.